The invention concerns a mechanical bending apparatus for bending flat workpieces, especially sheet metal, with at least one bending tool assembly which has at least one part that can be moved by means of a drive, whereby the workpiece can be bent along a bending line when acted on by the moving tool part, and the moveable tool part is comprised of adjacent segments in the direction of the bending line.
The generic state of the art is illustrated and described in DE 196 40 124 A1. This prior publication discloses a bending machine with a swiveling bending tool. A bending cheek of the swiveling bending tool is provided with a bending cheek tool, which is in turn composed of tool segments arranged in a row in the direction of the bending line. Individual tool segments can be moved back and forth between “on” and “off” positions. If the tool segments are in the “on” position, they act on the workpiece when the bending cheek segments swivel and thus help bend it. When they go into the “off” position, the tool segments pass by the workpiece without deforming it. The bending cheek is always swiveling with all tool segments, i.e., those in both the “on” and “off” positions.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel bending tool assembly which is rapidly adjustable for changing the effective length of the bend to be produced.
It is also an object to provide such an assembly which is readily fabricated and easily operated.